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VIDEO: They Shut It Down

Well, it happened again. While waiting on a story to come together, I accidentally wrote a song. I’ve been called a “banjournalist” in the past, but this one leans a bit more toward opinion. Let’s call it a “banjeditorial.”

It started in my head when I saw Kevin Bennett’s pictures of a guy loading up his firewood as the rangers were kicking him out of Acadia National Park. I thought, that guy may have been looking forward to that trip for months. He might only get a couple weeks off a year. I bet he made his reservation quite a while back. Now it’s all ruined. And for what reason?

Then I thought about the folks on “furlough.” What does that even mean? I looked it up. The definition said,”leave of absence, esp. that granted to a member of the armed services.”

That’s right, a leave that’s granted. I bet nobody asked for a furlough from their paychecks. They’ve all got bills to pay, kids to feed and lives to get on with. So, they’re going without. Why?

As far as I can tell, there’s no good reason. No good reason at all.

Now, I’m a journalist first. I’m officially neutral in all things newsy. But this shutdown is dumb. Just plain dumb. Feel free to sing along.

BDN in-house banjournalist Troy R. Bennett sings his take on the government shut down.